Wednesday, November 19, 2025

11/19 Links Pt1: There's Only One Path to Peace: Eliminating Hamas; PA nearly doubled payments to terrorists in 2025; Kafkaesque smears against Maccabi fans cannot be allowed to rest

From Ian:

Aviva Klompas: Along the Israel-Gaza Border, There's Only One Path to Peace: Eliminating Hamas
When the UN Security Council approved a U.S.-backed resolution Monday to deploy an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, it acknowledged a core truth: The security vacuum that enabled Oct. 7 cannot be allowed to return. Two realities must remain immovable as the world designs Gaza's future: Hamas cannot retain any foothold, and Israel cannot be expected to outsource its security to external actors.

Last week I traveled to Kibbutz Nir Oz, where 117 of its 415 residents were murdered or kidnapped on Oct. 7. I walked around with Irit Lahav, who hid in her home with her daughter for 12 hours as Hamas terrorists tried five separate times to break down her door. She jammed a boat oar beneath the handle and prayed it would hold.

Before the attack, Irit believed deeply in coexistence. She was one of the many Gaza-border Israelis who advocated for Palestinians and regularly drove sick Gazans to Israeli hospitals. "I thought the Palestinians were good people like me who want peace," Irit told me. "Now I understand they really, really hate us - and they think that rape, murder, and kidnapping are legitimate."

Two days later, I stood in Sajaiya in Gaza, a former Hamas stronghold. From Sajaiya, I could see the homes of Nahal Oz, another Israeli border community a five-minute drive away. The distance between a Hamas command complex and the homes of Israeli families is measured in minutes.

What happened in Nir Oz and the other border communities was the predictable result of leaving a heavily armed, ideologically-driven movement embedded minutes from Israeli homes. Two years later, the threat remains. Tunnels still run beneath Gaza, weapons caches remain, and Hamas's ideology is wholly intact. No international plan can succeed while this reality persists.
Military Intelligence: "The Plan to Annihilate Israel Remains Alive and Operational"
Donald Trump once confessed he was "drawn almost pathologically to complex deals, partly because they tend to be more interesting." This approach succeeded spectacularly in securing the release of hostages from Gaza, both living and deceased.

Yet Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire agreement has emerged so far as an illusion. Hamas, just like Hizbullah, harbors no dreams of disarmament. It shows absolutely no interest, and its leaders discuss this candidly. Hamas is reconstructing command and control systems, having already redeployed 7,500 operatives across the Gaza territory remaining under its authority.

It has resumed street patrols, salary payments, and tax collection. Its members break arms and legs of anyone questioning their continued rule, restore tunnels, manufacture weapons anew, and settle accounts with armed clans that assisted Israel before the ceasefire.

Gaza isn't simply a minor irritant, it constitutes the core issue because from there was launched October 7's "gospel" and Israel's destruction blueprint, coordinated with Iran and its proxies. A senior military intelligence official recently informed cabinet ministers that "the plan to annihilate Israel remains alive and operational, with October 7 continuing to inspire all Israel's regional enemies."

Trump's America presumes that economic enticements provide the key, and that every problem features a deal awaiting signature once proper incentives materialize. But business principles don't govern everything. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict encompasses identity, religion, security, and national aspiration dimensions, and that Gaza residents and Hamas are essentially identical.

The hatred culture centered on Israel's destruction cannot be eliminated through financial means. Israel and its military possess genuine motivation and capability - now with no living hostages remaining in Gaza - to complete the mission there and strip Hamas of weaponry. Trump's peace vision might potentially materialize only after Hamas's Gaza elimination.
Sa’ar: PA nearly doubled payments to terrorists in 2025
The Palestinian Authority nearly doubled the payments it issued in 2025 to convicted terrorists and to the families of those killed while carrying out attacks, despite its repeated claims to have halted the practice, Israel’s Foreign Ministry revealed Wednesday.

Last year, Ramallah disbursed $144 million in payments rewarding attacks against Israelis. In 2025, it has already committed $214 million, “and the year isn’t even over,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tweeted.

“I call on Europe and the world to hold the P.A. accountable for funding terrorism. Stop Pay-for-Slay NOW!” Jerusalem’s top diplomat added.

Last week, Sa’ar accused Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas of attempting to “fool the world” by firing his finance minister, reportedly over “unauthorized payments” to Arab terrorists and their families.

Ramallah’s official Wafa news agency reported that P.A. Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Istifan Salameh would replace Omar Bitar, though it gave no reason for Bitar’s dismissal.

According to local reports, Bitar had transferred funds to terrorists in Israeli prisons through a mechanism Ramallah had ostensibly reformed under pressure from the United States and Europe.

The revamped mechanism Bitar allegedly bypassed rebrands the stipends as “welfare support,” shifting the system from an official ministry to an “independent” foundation controlled by the P.A.

Sa’ar told reporters in Budapest on Oct. 27 that “contrary to the P.A.’s promises in English, they are continuing their pay-for-slay policy.


Israel Has Received U.S. Guarantees on Gaza and Palestinian Statehood
Israel removed its opposition to the UN Security Council Gaza resolution's "pathway to Palestinian statehood" framework while receiving compensation across multiple dimensions. The U.S. has guaranteed it wouldn't restrict Israel's military actions against Hamas should the organization breach the ceasefire.

The U.S. additionally pledged not to constrain Israel if Hamas declines disarmament and maintains weapons buildup while constituting a threat. Israel could restart the war for Hamas dismantlement, contingent on American coordination.

The U.S. further committed to accepting an Israeli-determined schedule for subsequent pullbacks, aligned with Israel's security perception. Both also established that Israel's deployment in the Gaza perimeter and Philadelphi Corridor wouldn't face time restrictions and would be contingent on security conditions.

With regard to a prospective Palestinian state, should one materialize eventually, the administration specified that such a state's foundational principles would conform to the 2020 "Deal of the Century" - a state formed solely on partial West Bank territory, with complete demilitarization.

Furthermore, advancement toward such statehood should transpire exclusively following extensive Palestinian Authority restructuring, de-radicalization, educational curriculum overhauls, and total termination of payments to Palestinian terrorists and their relatives. Palestinians would likewise renounce any "right of return" and conclude the refugee designation for Palestinians in Middle Eastern camps.


Jonathan Tobin: Trump’s UN victory is a path to a stalemate in Gaza
The acceptance of Hamas remaining in part of Gaza, as it was before Oct. 7, may be as close to a state as the Palestinians will get. No Israeli government—whether headed by Netanyahu or one of his political opponents—will accept the creation of a sovereign government in any part of Gaza that might have the ability to threaten or invade the Jewish state as the Hamas state did on Oct. 7. And the achievement of the conditions placed on Palestinian statehood in the Trump plan is a possibility so far-fetched as to render it more a matter of science fiction than a policy proposal.

Like past generations of Palestinian leaders, the criminals running Hamas and their corrupt counterparts that lead the Fatah Party (which controls the P.A.) remain unwilling and unable to accept statehood under any conditions but Israel’s elimination. As was true in 1948, 1967, 1993, 2000 and 2008, and any other time when they could have compromised and received a state, their only goal remains Israel’s destruction. They don’t want a state next to Israel. They want one instead of it—and that is something they can never have.

Nor should Americans or Israelis be entirely sanguine about Trump’s optimism about relations with the Saudis.

As much as Trump is right to try and cultivate this alliance, he ought to be listening to Netanyahu and conditioning any major upgrade of Riyadh’s war-making capacity, such as selling it greater numbers of the same high-tech F-35 Jets tht Israel has, on its willingness to make peace with Israel.

The administration’s “America First” foreign-policy goals include creating a situation where the Saudis will join with the Israelis to oppose Iran and safeguard the West’s interests in the Middle East while the U.S. pivots to Asia to deal with the threat from China.

However, the belief that MBS is interested in exchanging his country’s current close under-the-table relationship with Israel for one involving open recognition, normalization, and the exchange of ambassadors and embassies—as was true for those who joined the 2020 Abraham Accords—has little foundation. He wants Israel and the United States to act as counterweights to the threat that the Saudis still face from Iran, even after its defeat in the 12-day war it fought with Israel and the Americans last summer.

But his moderation has its limits. And, as guardian of the holy Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina, even MBS is always going to worry more about angering the Islamist fundamentalists that are part of his nation’s governing elite than he will about pleasing Trump or the Israelis.

Neither peace nor nightmare
All of which means that the American plan is neither a pathway to peace nor the nightmare scenario that some on the Israeli right fear it will turn out to be. Sadly, the enormous sacrifices made by Israelis during the two years after Oct. 7 will, barring a dramatic and unlikely acceptance by Trump that his peace plan is a flop, turn out to have not achieved the removal of the deadly threat to their nation.

Still, by gaining the release of the last hostages being held by Hamas, Trump again earned the gratitude of Israelis. It’s also true that thanks to the successes achieved by the Israel Defense Forces in the war, as well as Trump’s commitment to smashing the Iranian nuclear program, the current strategic equation in Gaza and the region is one in which Israel has been strengthened since Oct. 7, while its enemies are weaker.

But unless the president is ready to let the war begin again, his plan is looking as if it is just one more waystation on the road to the inevitable next round of fighting between democratic Israel and genocidal Palestinian Islamists.
Why Israel Fears Turkey's Involvement in Gaza
The Turks have expressed a desire to play a role in the International Stabilization Force (ISF) which is supposed to take over ground security control of Gaza from the IDF (and Hamas). Ankara appears to have played a significant role in securing the 10 October ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza Islamists. Now, Turkey wants a major role in future arrangements on the ground in Gaza, in both the military and civilian sectors.

Israel is absolutely opposed to any Turkish role in future security arrangements in Gaza. This is because Israel identifies Turkey in its current form as something very close to an enemy state. Ankara allows Hamas to maintain a large office in Istanbul, from which it has planned both military and terror activities and political and media campaigns.

Turkey also facilitates the unimpeded travel of Hamas officials by supplying them with Turkish passports. Turkish President Erdogan has never condemned the massacres of 7 October 2023. Rather, he describes Hamas as a liberation group. Moreover, Ankara has recently issued arrest warrants for alleged "genocide" against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and 36 other Israeli officials.

Turkey's consistent pattern of anti-Israel activities fits comfortably with its military incursions into Iraq and Syria over the last half decade, its deployment of drones and proxy fighters in Azerbaijan and Libya, its efforts to build influence in Lebanon, the West Bank and Jerusalem, its burgeoning alliance with Qatar, and its strategy in the Mediterranean, in which it lays claim to expanded exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in the eastern Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas.

Israel suspects that Turkey wishes to make use of the ISF in Gaza as a platform by which it can reinsert Turkish troops into the Israeli-Palestinian context. However, the current U.S. administration shares little or none of Israel's perception of Turkey.


If Gaza's Famine Was Real, How Come It Went Away So Fast?
For months, headlines warned of an impending famine in Gaza. On Aug. 22, 2025, experts indicated famine was underway. Yet today, the word "famine" has nearly vanished from the headlines. What happened? Recovery from famine typically takes 8-12 months, even under ideal conditions with full humanitarian access and functioning medical systems.

If Gaza truly met famine standards this summer, the signs would still be unmistakable: rising mortality, overwhelmed clinics, and a generation of weakened children. Yet no such surge has been confirmed by independent medical reporting.

In August, 84% of Gaza aid convoys were reportedly looted. Yet after the Oct. 10 ceasefire, UN data show interceptions fell to 6%, and by November, below 1%. Where did the desperation go? Recent videos show bustling markets and calm streets. Within six weeks, famine conditions seemingly vanished.

If famine had truly taken hold, it would not have dissipated so quickly. Either the crisis was overstated, the data manipulated, or public perception deliberately managed.


Witkoff scraps planned meeting with senior Hamas official — diplomat
US special envoy Steve Witkoff canceled a planned Wednesday meeting with top Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya in Istanbul, a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel.

Witkoff had planned the trip to Turkey primarily around a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and had tacked on the meeting with Hayya after the fact. But when the former sit-down didn’t pan out, Witkoff decided not to take the trip at all, the diplomat said, confirming a report in the Axios news site.

The diplomat denied a report in the Hezbollah-linked Lebanese channel Al-Mayadeen that claimed Witkoff had canceled the meeting due to Israeli pressure.

The meeting would have been Witkoff’s second with Hayya, after the special envoy, along with Jared Kushner, a fellow top adviser to US President Donald Trump, met with senior members of Hamas’s ceasefire negotiating team hours before an agreement was inked in Egypt on October 9.

That meeting was said to have been critical in bringing the deal across the finish line, with Trump’s advisers assuring the Hamas leaders that the US would hold Israel to the terms of the deal as long as the terror group kept its side of the bargain.
Mossad unveils network of Hamas terror infrastructure across Europe
A network of Hamas terror-affiliated infrastructure across Europe was exposed by the Mossad, the spy agency said on Wednesday, as it revealed the prolonged investigation it had conducted with European intelligence and law enforcement to thwart planned attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets.

The Mossad said that already in September, it had assisted European authorities in identifying Mahmoud Naim – the son of a top Hamas official, Basem Naim, who is himself a senior adviser to Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya – as the orchestrator of this overall plot. According to the Mossad, Naim had met with his father in Qatar to facilitate the ploy, illustrating that Hamas, at its highest levels, was sponsoring terrorist schemes.

Hamas officials in Turkey have also been involved.

Mossad disrupted 'dozens' of Hamas terror ops.
Since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, the terrorist organization has accelerated efforts to build cells and logistics in Europe, mirroring the activity of Iran and its proxies. The Mossad said it continues to disrupt “dozens” of varying attack plots worldwide regularly as part of Israel’s overseas counterterrorism mandate.

It credited “close, persistent cooperation” with European services for recent breakthroughs and said efforts are ongoing.

“The Mossad, together with its partners in Israel and worldwide, is working relentlessly to thwart attacks against Israeli, Jewish, and other innocent civilians across the globe,” it said in a statement.

Recent arrests of Hamas members across Europe
Austria’s civilian security agency in Vienna, the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence, uncovered and confiscated a weapons stash in September that included handguns and explosive materials, leading to the detention and questioning of suspects tied to a Hamas network. Local media later detailed the discovery of a Hamas-linked cache in the city and a related, subsequent arrest in London.


Knesset advances bill to block provision of electricity, water to UNRWA facilities
A government-backed bill to prohibit the provision of electricity or water to facilities owned by or operated on behalf of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, passed its first reading in the Knesset Wednesday with 28 lawmakers voting in favor and 8 against.

UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — provides education, health care and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Israel has barred UNRWA from operating on its soil after accusing employees of participating in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, and of inciting against it.

The new amendment would formalize a process requiring electricity and water providers to withhold or disconnect service from any property whose registered consumer name is UNRWA, unless the registered party submits a sworn declaration that they do not represent or act on behalf of the agency.

The legislation also would allow the government to seize properties in Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab in Jerusalem, which had been leased to UNRWA by the state and used as the agency’s offices, “without the need to initiate legal or administrative proceedings.”


Gaza terrorists open fire on troops, prompting IDF retaliatory strikes
Several terrorists in Gaza fired on Israeli troops in the Khan Yunis area, the Israel Defense Forces stated. No Israelis were injured; nevertheless, it was a “violation of the ceasefire agreement,” according to the IDF spokesperson.

“In response, the IDF began striking Hamas terrorist targets across the Gaza Strip,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

According to Ynet, the strikes killed at least two senior Hamas officers. Palestinian media reported that several people died in strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the IDF eliminated two Palestinian terrorists after they breached the U.S.-brokered ceasefire by attempting to cross into IDF-controlled territory in the Strip, the IDF said.

Soldiers in southern Gaza struck and killed the terrorists after they crossed the ceasefire-instituted Yellow Line and approached troops, “posing an immediate threat to them,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

On Monday, soldiers in northern Gaza eliminated one terrorist after several crossed the Yellow Line and planted “suspicious objects” near troops, posing an immediate threat.

“The remaining terrorists fled from the scene to the area west of the Yellow Line,” the army said.

Hamas stated that it has no intention of laying down its arms on Monday, after the U.N. Security Council voted to pass a U.S.-drafted resolution on Gaza’s future that envisaged “the process of demilitarising the Gaza Strip” and “the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups.”


Netanyahu leads visit to IDF-controlled security zone in southern Syria
Israel may need to defend itself or strike in “at any moment” the Israel Defense Forces-controlled security zone in southern Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to the area on Wednesday with other top officials.

“We attribute enormous importance to our defensive and offensive ability here; it’s a mission that could develop at any moment,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office.

According to the PMO, the high-level delegation that accompanied Netanyahu also included Defense Minister Israel Katz; Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar; IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir; Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) director David Zini; and Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador to the United States.

Netanyahu also noted the importance Israel attached to “guarding our Druze allies and mainly guarding the State of Israel and its northern border along the Golan,” the statement read. Netanyahu also thanked the soldiers serving along the border.

During the visit, which local media said led to the cancellation of Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial on Wednesday, the officials were briefed on regional developments, according to the statement. Netanyahu met with some soldiers, both in regular service and reservists, and answered some of the questions they posed, his office said.

Earlier this week, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster cited officials in Jerusalem as saying that talks for a renewed security arrangement with Damascus were at an impasse.

Israel reportedly refused Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s demands for a complete IDF withdrawal from all territory it captured in Syria in the wake of the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime in late 2024.


Wave of IDF strikes hit Hezbollah weapons depots in south Lebanon after warnings
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday said it launched a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah weapons depots in southern Lebanon, as the military ramped up strikes aimed at preventing the Iran-backed terror group from rearming.

The weapon depots in Deir Kifa, Shehour, Tayr Felsay and Aynata belonged to Hezbollah’s rocket unit, according to the military.

The IDF said the arms caches were placed in “the heart of a civilian population,” which it said is “another example of the cynical use by the Hezbollah terror organization of Lebanese civilians as human shields.”

“The presence of weapons storage facilities constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the army added.

Before the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings for Lebanese civilians in the four villages.

The IDF published footage of the strikes. Additional footage posted by Lebanese media showed the strike on a building in Shehour.


Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center: Melanie Phillips at the Rage Against the Hate Conference

Misgav: Ep. 19: Benny Gantz Speaks Out: Gaza, the Palestinians, Politics - and Securing Israel’s Future
Former Israeli Chief of Staff, Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz joins Mideast Horizons for one of his most candid and comprehensive interviews since October 7. In this wide-ranging conversation with Asher Fredman, Gantz lays out his new security doctrine, insists that Hamas will be disarmed, and discusses Israel’s evolving strategy toward Iran, the Palestinian Authority, and the Abraham Accords.

Gantz breaks down:
• Why Israel cannot return to the pre–October 7 security paradigm.
• Whether an international force can really demilitarize Gaza.
• What happens if Hamas refuses to disarm.
• The day after Mahmoud Abbas and the looming crisis in the West Bank.
• How Israel should prepare for a regional defense alliance with Saudi Arabia and its Abraham Accords partners.
• The strategic lessons from past Gaza wars — and why Israel must adopt a new “strategic initiative” pillar.
• The future of U.S.–Israel military cooperation and debates over American aid.
• Israeli politics and the need for a State Commission of Inquiry into the events that led to October 7.
Direct, thoughtful, and at times blunt, Gantz offers a rare inside look into his thinking about the next five years, the risks ahead, and what it will take to secure Israel’s future.


Caroline Glick Shares What Matters to Israel amid Ongoing Middle East Peace Talks
Caroline Glick, International Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, addresses Israel’s quest for sovereignty over their entire nation and contrasts the U.S.-backed U.N. Security Council peace plan for Gaza against the backdrop of Hamas’s deep hatred for the Jewish people.


Natasha Hausdorff explains legal impact of UN Security Council Resolution on Gaza
In this new interview, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, Natasha Hausdorff unpacks the details after the UN Security Council voted in favour of a US resolution backing Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan and the deployment of an international stabilisation force.

The resolution's text also says that conditions may finally be in place "for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood."

President Trump says it will lead to "further peace all over the world."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed the result, saying the framework will "lead to peace and prosperity because it insists upon full demilitarization."

The Palestinian authority praised the outcome, calling for its immediate implementation.

Hamas, though, issued a statement rejecting the resolution, saying it imposes a mechanism intended to achieve the goals of the occupation.




Ask Haviv Anything: Episode 61: Is criticizing Israel antisemitic?
Welcome to our new short-form episodes interspersed with the regular interviews that dive into an often-asked question about Israel, Jews and the Middle East. Our current question: Is criticizing Israel antisemitic?

Chapters
00:00 Criticism of Israel vs. Anti-Semitism
02:53 Jewish Identity and Self-Determination
06:08 Media Manipulation and War Perception
09:02 The Uniqueness of Anti-Israel Sentiment


travelingisrael.com: The Jewishness of Jesus – 7 Fascinating Aspects You Never Thought About
Discover the Jewish world that shaped Jesus — the ideas, places, and traditions most people never realize lie at the roots of Christianity.

0:00 - Intro
1:28 - Identity
3:25 - Second Temple Judaism
5:24 - Baptism
6:58 - Place & Meaning
7:51 - Place of prayer
9:00 - Teaching


Erin Molan: Miss Israel STRIKES BACK Over Viral ‘Side-Eye’ Clip — Lord Marland Says UK Is a ‘Crumbling Wreck’
Miss Universe Israel Melanie Shiraz Asor & Lord Jonathan Marland join Erin on this episode 48 of The Erin Molan Show. Erin opens with a fast-paced rundown of the big stories: Trump’s decision to sell F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia, the UN vote paving the way to formal Palestinian statehood, the security risks for Israel and the West, the emotional first public appearance of hostages Noah and Avinatan, plus her unfiltered take on Michelle Obama’s latest comments and the online rhetoric of figures like Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate.

Then Erin is joined by Miss Israel, Melanie Shiraz, who responds to the viral clip accusing her of giving a “death stare” to Miss Palestine on the Miss Universe stage. She explains what really happened, how the footage was used online, what it’s like being Miss Israel in 2025, and why this controversy has only strengthened her commitment to advocacy for Israel and the Jewish people.

Finally, Lord Jonathan Marland breaks down the situation in the UK under Keir Starmer: tax hikes, division, unrest inside Labour, immigration tensions, and institutions under strain. He explains why he thinks Britain is at a tipping point, what that means for the future of UK politics, and squeezes in some classic Aussie–Brit Ashes banter with Erin.

Chapters
0:00 – Erin’s welcome & why this show is your “best 40 minutes”
2:10 – Trump’s F-35 jet deal with Saudi Arabia
5:20 – UN votes for Gaza force & Palestinian state recognition
7:22 – Noah & Avinatan: reunited after captivity
10:40 – Ted Cruz & Marco Rubio 2028? Erin’s “Rubio/Cruz or Cruz/Rubio?”
11:37 – Michelle Obama’s comments & Erin’s response
15:40 – Nick Fuentes & Andrew Tate: Erin reacts to their posts
17:20 – Miss Israel, Melanie Shiraz Interview
28:33 – Introducing Lord Jonathan Marland
46:50 – Fan feedback, your comments & Erin’s final message




Revealed: Dutch official dossier undermines West Midlands Police ‘Israeli hooligan’ claims
West Midlands Police (WMP) are facing calls for an independent probe after a dossier seen by the JC shows strong evidence that claims of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans hooliganism were wildly exaggerated to justify their ban.

The force cited claims that up to 600 of the club’s supporters committed “hate-motivated crimes” in Amsterdam last year, it is understood.

Yet on the night of the Ajax match Israeli fans were assaulted in large numbers on the city’s streets, in what was later revealed to be a planned and organised “Jew hunt”.

The official report by the Amsterdam authorities obtained by the JC says Maccabi fans “do not have a violent reputation”, and makes clear it was the Israeli club’s supporters who were the victims of “groups that are looking for a confrontation”.

The document also stated that of the 59 suspects arrested, only ten were Israeli while the others were from the Netherlands.

Both Labour and Conservative politicians are urgently demanding transparency from WMP over why they stopped the Israeli club’s supporters from attending the match against Aston Villa two weeks ago.

There is also now concern over whether international fixtures should take place at the Birmingham venue, and particularly its suitability to host games at the 2028 European Championships as currently planned.
Kafkaesque smears against Maccabi fans cannot be allowed to rest
Such claims were at the very least a deeply misleading account of what transpired in Amsterdam.

Now, after the JC has seen the official Dutch report, we learn that the findings of the police there seemingly contradict the statements of their counterparts in Birmingham, and call into question the reasoning behind the decision to ban the fans from Israel.

There can be little doubt of what is the new reality: in the second city of the United Kingdom, it is extremists who are effectively making public order decisions.

We have seen the results. When a JC reporter visited Villa Park on the night that Maccabi Tel Aviv played without their fans to cheer them on, he was confronted outside the stadium by a hooded gang, one of whose members exclaimed: “F**k Israel. F**k every Jew.”

Is it any wonder such racist thugs should see fit to spout their bigotry shamelessly when the authorities surrender so abjectly to hate?

The lack of transparency from WMP will only add to public concern over the unprecedented and scandalous decision to ban Israeli fans.

The call for an independent investigation into the force must be heeded, if faith in the force is to be restored.

Remember: Villa Park is due to be a venue for the 2028 European Championships, in which Israel will take part if they qualify.

What will happen then, if the blue and whites are drawn to play in the Midlands?

It is unthinkable that a situation should be allowed to stand in which extremists determine whether or not international fixtures take place.

The people of Birmingham and Israel deserve better than this.

This Kafkaesque chicanery that so misrepresented the events in Amsterdam cannot be allowed to rest.


Anti-Zionist groups announce protest outside Manhattan synagogue
Anti-Zionist groups announce a protest for tomorrow at New York City’s Park East Synagogue.

The protesters are demonstrating against an event at the synagogue hosted by Nefesh B’nefesh, an organization that helps Jews immigrate to Israel.

“No settlers on stolen land,” say advertisements for the protest on social media, branding the event a “settler recruiting fair.”

Nefesh B’nefesh does not direct immigrants to settlements; anti-Zionist activists often brand all Jewish Israelis as “settlers.”

The protest is led by the Pal-Awda activist group and is shared by other anti-Zionist organizations such as the city’s branch of Jewish Voice for Peace, Writers Against the War on Gaza, student groups from around the city and individual activists with large followings.

The National Lawyers Guild, a nonprofit, sent an email to its members asking for volunteer legal observers to attend the event. The observers serve to provide legal defense for protesters against police. The guild is anti-Israel and put out a statement in support of the October 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, the day after it happened.

There have been thousands of anti-Israel protests in New York City since the Hamas attack, the NYPD has said.
Bristol venue admits it was wrong to cancel Jewish band due to activist pressure
A Bristol music venue has publicly admitted it was wrong to cancel a performance by Jewish Klezmer group Oi Va Voi in May after “complaints about the band from activist groups”, acknowledging that the band “was likely only subjected to this level of scrutiny…because they are Jewish.”

Strange Brew released a statement on Wednesday stating that it had “reflected on this decision” to cancel the band’s performance “and have realised that we made a mistake in doing so.” There had been complaints about the band and the Israeli singer that they were performing with, Zohara, after claims that an album cover from the singer, showing her harvesting watermelons, was a coded reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with pro-Palestinian adherents having taken up the watermelon as a symbol.

“We recognise that Oi Va Voi was likely only subjected to this level of scrutiny, and Zohara’s album artwork interpreted negatively, because they are a Jewish band performing with an Israeli singer”, the venue said.

“Oi Va Voi are musicians, not activists. They have no political affiliations, and as far as we are aware, have never made any political statements, be it in their music or otherwise…Even if they did hold such views, we recognise that under the Equality Act performers cannot be excluded from our venue based on their nationality or their ethnicity, or their philosophical or religious opinions and beliefs which are worthy of respect in a democratic society, even if some people are opposed to those views.”

Strange Brew confirmed it will now introduce compulsory antisemitism training for senior management, run by the Antisemitism Policy Trust, and will make a donation to the Community Security Trust. It also urged other venues and promoters not to hold Jewish artists to a higher standard “by demanding they account for the actions of others or let the current conflict effectively exclude Jewish acts from our venues”.




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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



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